Alan and I just got back from a couple of days at Pender Island, visiting my parents for Easter. My sister Suzanne, her fiance, David, niece Andrea and her partner Dan also went, so it was quite a gang that descended.
We hit every beach we could while we were there and were blessed with sunshine.
These two photos were taken at Roesland, my favorite place on earth. I have done many paintings from there and there will be more to come. There's something about the place that is just magic to me.
That's Suzanne, off in the distance.

This painting started out with a red underpainting and the plan was for there to be lots of red, black and buttery yellow. So much for plans. Things were not going well so I did a pthalo blue glaze over the whole painting and went in wet-in-wet.
I've done lots of paintings of crows though none recently. This one used a different photo for each crow- I cut them out and played around with different arrangements
"Blue Boys" 16 x 20" acrylic

Here's the finished piece-"Caramello" 30 x 40" acrylic. The painting has been delivered to Granville Fine Arts gallery in Vancouver.

Another stage of the Rose painting. Background finished and roses started. Things are getting a little cooler than I wanted so the finished piece will show that I warmed everything up again

Here's the next stage of the roses. Starting to build the darks and also some of the highlights. Keeping everything very loose and suggested at this point.

Here's stage one of the Rose painting. Quinacridone gold underpainting sets a lovely warm beginning. I'm going to try to keep it very warm to the end. Don't know what color the flowers will be but probably not red.

This sketch is the start of my next large painting. I'm using two photos as reference for the painting - one for the roses and another one for everything else. The light is different in each photo so I have to figure out how to handle that.

I don't do a sketch for every painting but if I'm making anything up or changing things in my reference, it's a great way to plan the composition.

It's 6:04- I'm happy to announce that Linda Ramsden, with a winning bid of $515.00, is the new owner of "Above and Below". Thanks to all who bid for your support for a very good cause. It's wonderful for me to be able to make this substantial donation!

Current price on the auctioned painting is $450.00- 10 minutes to go!

Yesterday I spent the day at the Cherry Blossom Festival at Van Duesen Gardens in Vancouver. A group of 12 students came to try their hand at plien air painting. Most were brand new at it. All were courageous and did a respectable job on their paintings.
We were blessed with no rain, although the sun came and went the whole time. We attracted a lot of attention from the crowds of people there, much to the consternation of some.
Thanks to all for being such troopers- it was fun!